The History of Alternia
by IAmMyOwnWorstEnemy
Summary: This story is an attempt to make a full-length Ancestors tale. Doc Scratch's story will be followed as closely as possible. Certain events in chronology might not be accurate, but canon leaves a lot open. This is not a story with a happy ending, you all know how it ends (or should). Trigger warnings are for weak people.
1. Prologue

_Author's Note:_

 _In my time browsing through much of Homestuck Fanfiction, I have found not a single story elaborating on the stories of the Ancestors. This story will attempt to be just that. This is intended as an expansion of Doc Scratch's brief glimpse of the ancestors' stories. I will not be typing dialog with any of the characters' quirks, as it is an unbelievable chore to write and a pain to read. Not to mention it is utterly incompatible with my writing style._

The History of Alternia:  
PROLOGUE

How vast is the expanse of reality? How many universes, and versions of universes have existed within its borders? How many beings such as Lord English have plagued it? Is what we understand as reality just another enclosed, self-contained bubble within some greater dimensional plane? We will never know the answers to any of these questions. Other questions as to meaning, and of purpose are also impossible to answer to the satisfaction of everyone. What can be determined, and studied objectively, is the history of the denizens of reality. In a region of space, in a bubble of self-contained paradox (fittingly named Paradox Space by its denizens), lies a series of universes. Within these universes reside the two most violent races ever to exist in any corner of reality. Cherubs, one of whom dominates the entire existence of Paradox Space and ultimately proves to be its end, and the other, lesser in violence and brutality only by the slightest degree (and only outmatched in scale and power) is the focus of this study. Trolls.

In order to understand the hideous, gruesome culture that the trolls were at the end of their race, we must first touch on what the first iteration of their people was. Dubbed 'Beforus' by later inhabitants, the birth world of the trolls was a harsh environment. It was situated in a system where it was the solitary planet, and possessed one single moon. The star of that system was a red supergiant, albeit an extremely stable one. It stayed a red supergiant for the entirety of the lifespan of Beforus, all 8 billion years of it. Beforus was situated at a distance where life could evolve, guided by the intense sunlight and harsh weather. Most of the history here is unimportant; a lack of sentient life coupled with periodic mass extinctions makes for little of note.

Approximately 7 billion years after its formation, Beforan life experienced a breakthrough. Many of the ecosystem's fauna formed a symbiotic relationship with an evolving species. Over the next 500 million years, they guided each other's evolutionary path, until the race that named itself Troll achieved sentience. The biology of trolls is fascinating in the extreme, but for the sake of brevity will be overlooked for the most part.

The most immediately notable thing about the Trolls is what they have named the "hemospectrum". Due to some unknown evolutionary pressures, the blood of the race is varied in color. Some theorize that the single species is actually a hybrid of two previous species, one with a copper-based blood and one with an iron base. This has some circumstantial evidence, as the blue blooded trolls often had an affinity to arachnids, which also share the same color of blood. Whatever the case, the hemospectrum quickly became the dominant social hierarchy in troll societies. The lower castes (rust, brown, yellow) tended to have rather short lifespans and until late in the race's lifespan, limited intelligence. They were gifted in psionic powers though, and those of the classes above them (teals and greens), who were longer lived and also skilled in psychological manipulation, made use of them (this division of powers is another piece of circumstantial evidence for the hybrid theory). Above the greens, the blues held sway, and above them, the purple blooded were kings.

It was not until the fall of empire whose names have been forgotten did a global government arise. A mutant troll with a blood type and abilities much stronger than any before seen emerged from the breeding caverns. The liquid in her veins was a color that came to be known simply as Imperial Purple. Under her leadership, the various factions of the trolls united. She brought about sweeping reforms to their society. The lowest castes were freed from their menial labor, and though many of them would still work in those same roles as time went on, they were no longer slaves. She turned the system of domination by higher blood types on its head. At the end of her rule, Beforan society was as close to a utopia as ever seen in all of reality. Nearly every member of society worked for the benefit of those beneath them in power, and earned advancement through their success. And the Empress was the beloved leader. She had been alive for nearly twenty five hundred sweeps when, in the span of a few days, the entire planet was sterilized by meteors, and then erased from existence.

But not for long. A new universe came into being, with the same parameters as the old one. But this time, there was already a sentient force acting within it. The planet that was Beforus came to be known as Alternia. It had two moons, one pink and its natural satellite. The other was green, and housed a man with a cue ball for a head. Much of Alternia's history is the same as Beforus. However, when the Trolls achieved sentience, the original path of the race was altered. A single influence at the beginning, but not a small or subtle one. It took the form of a writhing tentacle monster the size of a city. Its true name cannot be properly pronounced by any being with a single mouth, but it was known to the trolls as Gl'bgolyb. This hideous abomination spoke into the minds of the trolls, guiding them and influencing them, provoking them to more and more bloodshed. And so when the Imperial Purple blooded troll emerged to unite the world, she led it down a path of further violence.

Gl'bgolyb was able to speak to her conscious mind. It urged her to conquer the world. She did so over the course of a single sweep, an almost laughably easy task. She possessed all the psionic abilities endemic to trolls and in much greater power than any had ever seen. The Highbloods, petty kings, quickly joined her for the promise of more subjects to torment. Any holdouts were simply slaughtered. It took longer to organize a bureaucracy than it did to conquer the planet. It did help that she had an ace in the hole with Gl'bgolyb. Its voice could annihilate entire castes of trolls. She was not shy of using this weapon. Multiple times, she had the creature genocide the lowbloods. Within five sweeps they would be back, just as numerous as before.

And so she ruled by fear and brutality. Any lowblood that stepped out of line was summarily executed. Midbloods had the right to stand trial in a kangaroo court (the Highbloods found this venue to be an exceptionally entertaining one), and Highbloods had only the rule of never defying the Empress to obey.

But it is not her empire that we will study. Rather, we will study the lives of those who tested it. The existential threats they posed, and how they were put down. The story of the Signless, those who followed him, and those who came long after him. And how Alternia, just like Beforus, was purged of all life in a matter of hours, save for a pair of trolls who would punish each other for their atrocities.


	2. 1: On the Finding of the Signless

Chapter 1: On the Finding of the Signless

Porrim Maryam was a jade-blooded troll. That meant that it was her caste's sole duty to care for the Mother Grubs and manage the trials that the newly hatched trolls would go through. They were a small caste, far smaller than the teal bloods above them, but being a jadeblood had its advantages. They were almost entirely safe from the predations of the Grand Highblood and his bands of insane killers. They were too valuable a caste to recruit from for any of the Empress's armies. And so Porrim and her ilk were left alone to ensure the survival of the race.

Porrim herself was one of three trolls who tended the Mother Grub Nidara. She was young yet, and only spawned small broods. Three was the lowest possible number of trolls needed to tend a Mother Grub. One was needed to feed the Mother, a second to maintain the Trial Caverns, and a third to manage the lusii awaiting their charges. They alternated their duties, Porrim and her two companions, Harfai, and Belgis.

Today was the day in the rotation that Porrim was assigned to the Trial Caverns. A series of caves branched out from the spawning chamber, each one designed with trials unique to each blood caste. The lowbloods spawned in massive numbers even in broods as small as what Nidara produced. As such, her attendants had standing orders from the Highblood to cull their numbers by at least 75%. Tests for agility and balance would leave slow and clumsy young trolls with crushed legs or torsos. Tests of strength would leave weak trolls missing limbs. Dull trolls would be left bereft of skin in intelligence trials. The failed trolls would be collected periodically. Those still alive would be put out of their misery and fed to the hungry lusii that they would never meet. Among the especially psionically gifted trolls, separate trials would be performed. If they failed they would typically end up burned to ash or squashed into pancakes.

The tests for the high blooded trolls were no less brutal. Most of the trials these young ones faced had to do with instinctive brutality towards lower castes. These required automated monitoring. If a troll failed to be appropriately aggressive, then they would be unceremoniously dumped into the feeding pits. Lusii of different blood types would happily feast on a failed troll. In this way, the eugenics of the race was carried out. Any troll with weak or otherwise inferior genes would be weeded out by the lusii, if not the trials.

Any troll lucky enough to survive the tests intact would then come before the lusii, who would inspect the troll. A lusus of the same blood type would then adopt the troll, if its scent was to their liking. In the case of some rare mutant blood types that managed to survive the trials, one of two things would happen. Sometimes a lusus would take a liking to the scent of the mutant blood and adopt it, or the mutant would be torn apart and eaten.

Porrim was, like many of her caste, a rainbow drinker. The jade bloods evolved the ability to subsist off of blood shortly after their caste was designated as the caretakers. This proved to their advantage, as there was never a shortage of blood in the trial caverns. Additionally, they were able to provide a source of light in the dark caves for their non vampiric castemates.

It was a day like any other day. Porrim was clearing the rustblood cavern. Walking along the access path between trials, hearing the screams of agony of the failed trolls unlucky enough to not die, she was thrown off her feet as the ground shook. Dust filled the air. A rumbling sound could be heard.

"Is it a cave in?" Porrim whispered to herself. The rumbling and shaking ceased, but the thick granite dust still filled the cavern. Shrieking and crying could still be heard, but in no greater or lesser amount than before. There was no means to tell where the potential collapse was, so she called Belgis.

"Bel, it's Porrim." She said. "Do you know what just happened?"

"No, I don't," he replied, "I thought it was a cave-in though. Nidara is safe though, but she is awfully upset."

"Have you heard from Harfai yet?"

"No. You go ahead and call her, I need to calm Nidara down, I'm worried she'll go off spawning for a while after this. You know how she does with shocks…"

"Alright." Porrim shut off the call on her wrist-mounted communication crab. It served as a dual tracker and communication device. Walking to the trial platform, she dialed Harfai as she began the work of clearing the dead and dying from it. "Harfai, are you there?"

A few seconds passed, then a slightly muffled voice came through. "Yeah Porrim, I'm here. There was a cave-in in a side cave off the lusus cavern."

"Were any lusii lost?"

"A couple of Aresians, but they're so common it's practically a good thing to have a couple of them killed off."

"And any young ones?"

"Eh, I think there was one, but he looked like he was already injured. Limping pretty bad."

"I'll call in an order for some drones to patch the place up. Let me finish clearing the rust cave-"Porrim grunted as she lifted the body of a troll off the ground. The troll's head had been smashed by one of the moving pillars. "-there are a lot today."

There was a pause on the other side. "How many of them are dead?" Harfai asked in a strange tone.

Porrim sighed into the crab. "Less than a third. Most of them seem to have failed in the intelligence tests." She winced, despite her genetically and culturally suppressed ability to feel sympathy. "These ones are especially brutal."  
"How so?"

Porrim tossed the dead troll over the side of the platform. It'd end up in a pile of dead trolls that would be fed to the various lusii in time. "From the noise I hear up ahead, I'd guess a lot of acid and fire." She traveled to the last platform quickly. It was a scene she was well used to, but her previous bit of sympathy made itself known again. At least fifty troll children lay strewn about the stone floor, all writhing in some unique agony. Many had their skin melted off by acid, others lie smoldering from gouts of fire that they had failed to avoid, and some few were totally dismembered but still alive. "It's terrible today." She said mournfully to the crab.

"I can hear. Damn, the Highbloods must be trying to bring up the IQ of the rusts now."

"I think so." Porrim took out her gun, a simple pistol that shot liquid-filled capsules that would provide a quick death to the suffering. She began her work, euthanizing the tormented young. After a time, she was finished, and started to walk to the lusus chamber. She ended the call with Harfai as she crossed over the bridge. A weak, plaintive cry caught her attention.

"Please…" a young girl's voice caught her attention. "Please don't leave me here…" the girl pled, weeping. Porrim looked around and saw a troll girl in a corner. Rust colored blood leaked out of at least a dozen deep cuts all over the troll's body. That alone wasn't fatal, but what would prove fatal was the gaping hole through her abdomen. She looked up at Porrim. Rust colored tears streamed down her face. "It hurts so bad… please make it stop!"

Porrim looked at her euthanasia gun. It was out of poison. She walked over to the girl and knelt in front of her. Their eyes met.

"Please…" the girl spasmed weakly, the light in her eyes going out. Porrim watched as she died. More than anything else, she was shocked at one thing: the girl could speak. No young troll she had ever seen in her time in the caves had ever been able to speak. Sighing, she picked up the troll and, after a brief moment that could have been considered sympathy or grief, tossed her body down the shaft like all the others.

"Ah, Porrim, there you are." Harfai said as Porrim emerged from the tunnel. Porrim immediately saw the cave-in off the main body of the chamber.

"You said a few Aresians, not half the herd." She said accusatorily.

"A few, half, all of them, what's the difference? They're just a bunch of rustblood lusii. Half of them will probably be culled by the Highbloods before they reach 6 sweeps."

"I suppose… but still, it seems a bit excessive, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, don't you think that some of these trials are a bit harsher than they need to be? Why use acid when a rock would work just as well? Why leave them dissolving in agony when you could just smash their heads in and be done with it?"

Harfai raised an eyebrow. "Did you not hear the newest announcement from the Highbloods? They watch the trials now, treat them like some sort of game."

"I suppose that would explain why… but this level of torture seems a bit much for even the Highbloods. They just like to see blood."

Harfai shrugged. "What can you expect? They can do whatever they want, so long as it keeps the masses cowed."

"I suppose."

The two called in the repair drones to properly clear away the debris from the cave in. As the robots worked, Porrim's mind kept dwelling on the scenes from the day. For an instant, she saw just how obscene and ridiculous the entire trial system was, that any other race of creatures would be horrified at how the trolls treat their young, but her clarity was gone in an instant. Eventually, Harfai left to go back to her bedroom, leaving Porrim all alone. The last drone left. She moved to inspect their work.

The side cavern was unused before the collapse. It was an ancillary room that would eventually be expanded to hold more lusii as Nidara aged, producing more offspring as she did. The room was now much larger and higher. In fact, the barest sliver of the night sky could be seen through a small hole in the roof of the cave. Porrim sighed, shook her head to clear her thoughts and went back to her own room to sleep.

The next few days passed in a similar manner. Porrim cleaned the other trial caves, noting the increased brutality and challenge. In her mind, she grew increasingly dissatisfied and disturbed. Sometimes she would observe trials designed to be unpassable, and simply intended to cause as much agony as possible. These would be entirely in the lowblood trials. She had to call in a request for drones to assist her in cleaning the caves, as there would be too many bodies for her to deal with. None of the dead she saw were whole anymore. A corpse would be lucky to only be missing two of its limbs. And then, all of a sudden, the brutal trials were stopped and the more typical ones were reinstated. _Probably just the capriciousness of the Highbloods again._

After two weeks on cave-cleaning duty, she was back to tending directly to Nidara. The Mother Grub was very talkative, but the conversations she inevitably would try to initiate with Porrim only deepened her sense of horror at troll society.

Nidara kept up a near constant stream of chatter. "I do hope that these grubs grow up to be happy, don't you dear? These here with the deep red color, these will be very strong, yes, they will. This one with the purple skin? Oh, he will be loved by so many people. This one here, with the yellow, you see her? She'll invent great things…" and on and on the Mother Grub would gush over her brood. Many times Porrim would have to duck out of sight of Nidara, assaulted by her now fully functioning conscience, too grieved to tell her that of her current brood of about a hundred, perhaps ten would make it out of the breeding caverns. The innocent joy of the Mother was so foreign to Porrim, this love of her offspring made her _hurt_ inside.

She could never say to Nidara that perhaps one of those rusts she said would be strong would walk out with a lusus, that the rest would die in agony and never even have a name. She would never tell her that the purple who was fated to be beloved would in fact torture and kill other trolls for the fun of it, to watch their blood flow between his fingers. That the yellow would be used as a living battery to power starships. She could never say those things. And so she kept her silence, watching as the broods grew larger. Nidara would gush over them for hours, spinning her adulation and desires for her children to go out into the world and find joy and love. The Mother would make up names and stories for her children, talking about how they would all work for their common good, and all would live in peace and prosperity. And Porrim could do nothing but stand there, feeding the Mother Grub buckets of genetic material supplied by the drones.

Until one day, Nidara stopped talking and looked at her. "Child, why are you weeping?" She asked gently. Porrim blinked, and was shocked to find that she was indeed crying. She waved as if to brush away the question, but Nidara was persistent. "Child, tell me what grieves you so. What makes your emerald tears flow?"

Porrim crumpled under the weight of her scrutiny. A Mother Grub's gaze is intense, and not many can withstand it. "It's… about your… children." Porrim started hesitantly.  
"What about them? Why do my beautiful children bring you such pain?"

"Well, how much do you know of our society?"

And so began the conversation that shook Nidara to her very essence. The knowledge that her children would grow up in a monstrous society and become monsters themselves was a horror to her. The tales of the Highbloods' violence wounded her. And when Porrim told her of the trials, that Nidara's beloved offspring would be maimed, tormented, and killed in the name of eugenics, she let out a terrible keening cry.

"No! No no no no no! My beautiful beloved children… dead… so many dead! Why? Why do they die, child? Tell me! For what purpose do they suffer and die, nameless and alone?" She screamed, screamed with the grief and pain of a mother betrayed. She thrashed and writhed, and the stone she lay on grew wet with her tears. After a time, her screams faded, and her writhing stilled. But she kept her litany of accusing questions. "What role do you play in this-this abomination?"

"I care for you and clean the caves. I care for the lusii that choose the survivors."

"And what if you do not? What if you… disobey?"

"Then the higher-ups come and make me scream, make me cry. That is the way of this world. We are all slaves, every one of us. We do what we are told to, or we provide the entertainment to the Highbloods in turn."

Nidara was silent for a time. Belgis called her crab. "Porrim, what the hell was that noise? Is the Mother Grub alright?"

"She's alright. She got injured, but it's nothing severe. I've got her patched up. Don't worry about it, it sounded a lot worse than it actually is."  
"Alright, but pay close attention to her. The Grand Highblood would make us beg for death if she dies."

"I know." Porrim said shortly, and terminated the call.

"The other one, Belgis he calls himself…" Nidara started.  
"Yes, what about him?"

"He also knows of the fate of my children?"  
"Yes. All three of us do, and all of those who tend other Mother Grubs."

"This is unacceptable. This cannot be allowed to continue."

"And what would you have us do? We cannot contact anyone outside of these caves. We cannot cease in our duties, the Highbloods would send enforcers to beat us into compliance, or even just replace us. We are trapped, no matter what we do we have only the choice of service or death."

Nidara slumped, or at least as much as a giant grub can slump. "And I cannot starve myself… that would just incur punishment upon you." The two sat in silence for a long while. Next to Porrim, a blue grub hatched and the wriggling little creature that came out of it started to crawl around, seeking food and a stalagmite to pupate on. Porrim picked it up and carried it to the basin of food. "Perhaps…" Nidara began, "perhaps all that can be done is simple acts like that." She gestured at Porrim with one of her tiny legs.

"Maybe…" the word floated faintly on the gap between the two. "Or maybe there is no choice at all, and we must do what we are bound to do by laws stronger than iron." She set the grub down for it to eat. "I must bandage you so that my lie earlier is not suspected."

"Do what you must, child. The joy of living has left me."

Weeks passed slowly. Porrim cycled from tending the Mother Grub to caring for the lusii, and maintaining the trial caves. Nidara kept spawning her broods. The trials kept culling them. The lusii kept adopting the survivors. It was nearly a quarter of a sweep after revealing the truth about the trolls when Porrim's life changed forever. A meteor crashed into the cave that had caved in. And in it was a bright, candy-red grub. A mutant. She took it to the Mother Grub.

"Nidara, what should be done with this? It is a mutant…"

"What do you believe should be done with him?" Nidara replied.

"No lusus will accept him… and every troll in Alternia will try to kill him anyways. He has no chance of survival."

Nidara thought for a while. "All of my other children… they have a chance to survive the horrors they face. But this one… he has no chance at all. Unless."

"Unless what?" Porrim asked with increasing certainty as to what would be done.

"Unless you care for him. Raise him yourself."

"Such a thing is unheard of! It seems almost obscene."

"This could be how you change the world. You could save my children. The children of other Mother Grubs. I can see that he will indeed be capable of great things. He is a seer, you know."  
"A seer? Seer of what?"

"Of truth! He will be able to see what we are supposed to be! What we could become!"

Porrim stood for a while. Possibilities swirled in her mind. "I will leave you."  
"Very well."  
"I will take this troll to raise. I will be his lusus. I will be his… mother. Like you are to our race, I will be to him."  
"Very good. Love him as I love my own brood. Raise him to love all trolls. Teach him, and learn from him in turn." Nidara beamed.

"He has no sign to him… no lusus will give him a name."  
"Then I shall name him." The Mother Grub paused for a moment, deep in thought. "His name shall be… Kankri. Kankri Vantas."

"So it is." In Porrim's arms, the bright red grub nestled into her cradling grasp.

"Now go, my child. Save my children from this endless cycle!" Nidara wept, grieving for all those lost, and who would be lost in the sweeps before her adopted child, Kankri, the one she had named, would save her race. She wept as Porrim ran from the caverns, abandoning her duty, and condemning herself to a life of the worst sort of slavery if caught. She wept in joy, for in her mind's eye she had seen what Kankri could bring about, and so the young Mother Grub became the first true follower of he who would be known as the Signless.


	3. 2: On the Run

Chapter 2: On the Run

Porrim clutched her precious bundle close to her. She had stopped briefly at her room to gather supplies and wrap her charge in a blanket. A heavy knife had separated the crab from her wrist. Without her body to leach nutrient from, it would die in a few days. She put it in a box to scuttle around in. Hopefully that would buy her a bit of time when the drones were sent out to find her. Giving one brief look at her bed-pod, she closed the door and locked it behind her. She put a note on her door that read ' _I'm sick. Please take over my duties for a few days while I recover._ ' Such a note would not arouse suspicion and perhaps cover her escape for a couple of days.

"Well, little one," she said softly as she made her way out of the caves, "we had best be off." With that, she made for the drone access tunnels. They were nearly inaccessible, but unlike any other exit to the breeding caverns, these were unmonitored, and only used when drones came bearing filial pails or on the rare occasion when they were needed for repair. Both of her arms were needed for climbing, so she tied the blanket around her, securing Kankri to her back.

It was a long climb, but Porrim was strong from her duties, and she had the natural strength of a rainbow drinker besides. Still, at the top of the rock shelf she had climbed, she was breathing hard and sweating profusely. _The worst is behind us now, though,_ she thought. The maw of the access tunnel loomed before her, and she instinctively began to glow with a soft radiance, another of the gifts that rainbow drinkers possess. The tunnel walls were perfectly circular, bored smoothly through the rock. Porrim passed a number of branching passages, each one leading to a different chamber in the cavern complex. After a time, the two approached the entrance to the tunnel.

Daylight flooded into the tunnel. That was fortunate. No sensible troll would be awake at this time, and not even the crazy ones would be looking outside. The Alternian sun was intense enough to blind most trolls in seconds, but while Porrim had not been outside at all for sweeps, her skin still remembered the comforting heat of the sun. Ever mindful of her charge though, she wrapped him up again in the blankets, making sure to cover his face so it would not get burned. She reached the exit of the tunnel at midday, the blistering sun casting no shadows. She took a deep breath, her first as a free troll. She spared a glance back at the tunnel, mourning her lost friendship with Nidara. Then she turned away and looked around properly.

The access tunnel was situated in the middle of nowhere. Porrim stood on a field covered in yellowed grass. Far away to the east, she could catch a glimpse of sunlight reflecting off glass. _A city._ She decided to avoid it. Off to the southeast, a range of tall mountains dominated the horizon, and to the north it looked as though there was a large forest. _Perfect._ Her destination set, Porrim adjusted her young charge and set off running for the forest. Her mind raced as she ran.

How could she raise another troll? Such a thing was unheard of. Perhaps the Grand Highblood would find it a sublime joke, but any other troll would react with a visceral disgust at the idea. Lusii were the caretakers of the young. It was a symbiotic relationship. The lusus would provide food and protection for their charge, and the young troll would in turn keep their monstrous guardian in check, ensuring that their innate violent tendencies would be controllable come the troll's maturation. Each learned from the other. The troll would learn the violence that it would need to survive come adulthood. To be Troll was to be violent. Unless… that was what she was supposed to change? She stared down at the bundled grub. What he was to change.

Porrim ran for hours, tireless, until the sun set in the west. The plain around her, so lifeless during the day came alive with the sounds of wildlife. But there were no lights visible anywhere around her. That was good. Suddenly exhausted, as though all the work of the last day hit her at once, she sat down on the grass and uncovered Kankri's face. The grub was sleeping, but awakened as his face was exposed. He smiled at seeing her, a mindless smile that simply expressed joy at seeing her. Porrim stroked his hair, smiling softly down at him as well. She fed him with some of the food that she had brought with her, then ate herself. Then, tucking herself under a bush, she slept through the night, waiting for morning to come.

When the sun rose, Porrim woke and went to relieve herself. When she came back, she gathered up Kankri, who was looking like all the grubs she'd ever seen shortly after hatching, looking for a place to spin their cocoon and pupate. "Just wait a little while longer child, we'll be in the forest soon." She said to him. He seemed to calm after that, wriggling less in his confining blanket. Looking to the north, Porrim saw that she would be able to reach the forest within a few hours of running. Glancing to the south, she saw nothing behind her but empty grassland. Hopefully her disappearance had gone unnoticed. _I can only count on one more day before one of them figures out I'm not there._

She once again set off running north. As she got closer to the forest, the land changed. The grass became greener, and more bushes dotted the landscape, obviously sustained by the greater amount of water in the area. Kankri once again grew restive, and Porrim kept up her pace until she reached the cover of the trees. Once under the canopy of the forest, Porrim uncovered his face again, and moved deeper into the foliage. In midafternoon, she finally found a spot to her liking.

This deep in the forest, the trees were very old. The spaces between them were wide and filled with small bushes, many of which had edible fruit (or so she hoped). A small creek cut through the area. There was no sign of habitation that Porrim could see. But for now, she unburdened herself, setting down Kankri and her pack of supplies. Sitting down against the tree, she allowed herself to relax for a few minutes. At her side, Kankri had finally decided it was time to pupate, and wriggled his way out of the blanket. She watched as he scuttled around on his six tiny legs, prodding at the tree.

Eventually, he decided it was suitable and crawled up it a good distance. Stopping at a branch, the bright red grub crawled out onto the limb and started to spin his cocoon. Soon, his mutant, candy-red body was hidden in the dull brown carapace that was the mark of any pupating troll. His metamorphosis would take about ten days, enough time for her to explore the area around the site and construct a makeshift shelter. _No rest for the weary_ , she sighed to herself, then, shaking her head, got up and started exploring the area around the camp. _By now they must have discovered I'm gone…_

Miles away, deep underground, Porrim's dereliction of duty was the last thing on her former coworker's minds. Belgis, one of the rare jadeblooded males, hunched protectively over Harfai, who was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a gut wound. They were in a cave just before the lusus pens. He stared down at her, checking for a pulse. It was there, but weak and fading. He looked up then, hearing footsteps tapping on the stone floor.

"Who's there?" he called out, voice made harsh by protective fear. Harfai was his good friend, and he had been harboring flushed feeling toward her for a long while. There was no response; the footsteps got closer and closer. He removed his shirt and packed it into Harfai's wound, but he knew that he was only prolonging the inevitable. She was already dead, her body just hadn't realized it yet. The footsteps rounded the turn in the cave and he looked up. As his eyes met the unfamiliar troll's, he felt all the blood drain from his face. That arcane flashing only could mean one thing.

It was _her_. Not Her Imperious Condescension, no. Having the Empress down here would be preferable to _her_. Having the Grand Highblood and all his entourage here, hell, the entire Dark Carnival and His Honorable Tyranny would make for a better ending than what was coming for him. The Handmaid was worse than all of them combined.

"It's—it's _you_ …" he started, choking over his fear. "What are you doing here?" he whispered, looking at her hands. "No…" Her hands were dripping with black ichor. And the only being with black blood in the caverns was… "NIDARA! What did you do to her?" His fear was replaced with rage. "Answer me you bitch! What did you do to the Mother Grub?" He clenched his fists, knowing that they would be useless against the Lord's Handmaid.

She finally opened her mouth and spoke. Her mouth too flashed with the same arcane energy her eyes did, and her voice echoed besides. "She is dead. In a few moments you will be dead too." Her eyes narrowed. "But where is the third?"

"If you think I'll tell you anything—"

The Handmaid lifted her arm and pointed at him with a wand. It flashed, and he was cut off. Still pointing at him, she raised him off the ground. "I can make you talk. But it matters little. She is gone. Fled. Where she is, I know not. But I see now that you do not either." With a flick of her wand, Belgis was flung back against the cave wall. Something deep in his body broke, and he screamed, still silent from her magic.

Behind her, a young troll entered the chamber. Fresh from the trials, he was exhausted and terrified. The Handmaid turned around and gestured at the child. A bolt of energy rushed at him and struck him in the head. He was knocked over, but got up quickly and fled out of the chamber, moving towards the lusus pens.

"There. Now he will remember everything that happened here. He will tell of me. He will spread fear." She turned back to Belgis, still pressed against the wall, screaming silently. The ram-horned troll moved close to him. "But you," she started, her voice deepening, echoing more in her mouth, "you will burn." Her entire body began to glow, flashing with arcane power. "You will burn, and your last thoughts will be of your failure." Here, she smiled at him, a terrible smile, one that spoke of vengeance long-awaited.

She stepped back and waved her wands at the exit of the cavern that the young troll had just left. The archway collapsed, burying the exit under tons of stone. The cave was suffused in the eye-piercing glow as the aura around the Handmaid intensified. As it peaked, Belgis saw the troll _step_ to the side, through a doorway in the air. _At least the young one will survive_ , he thought in a rare fit of altruism. It was the last thing he thought as he was burned to vapor, and the caves of Nidara were sterilized in a coruscating fireball.

The young troll was barely out of the cave exit, carried by his new lusus when they were bowled over by a massive shockwave. Looking behind him, he saw the surface of the ground collapse, sending dust and iridescent fire into the night sky.

The Dark Carnival's endless revelry and debauchery was disrupted as the ground shook beneath the highbloods' feet. Some, intoxicated on slime, fell on their faces. The Grand Highblood paused fin the middle of telling another of his nonsensical jokes. A few words were said, orders given to meaningless underlings before he went back to terrorizing his captive audience by trying (and failing) to juggle severed limbs, laughing hysterically the whole time.

Porrim was kneeling by the creek when the ground shook. She lost her balance and fell face-first into the water. A sharp rock cut her cheek, and she hissed in pain as she got up. _Not very deep_ , she thought as she probed it. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her and she rushed back to the camp. _What if Kankri's cocoon fell during that?!_ Panicked, she doubled her speed, following the stream back.

She entered the campsite and scanned the tree for the cocoon. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding as she spotted it, still securely attached to the tree. She sat at the base of the tree again, thinking. _What could that have been from?_ Tremors were not common in this area. The breeding caverns wouldn't have been hollowed out in this area if they were. Porrim decided to climb a tree to try and see if she could see anything. Light on her feet as usual, she scaled the tree with ease, its age proving an aid to her. After piercing the top of the canopy, she scanned the horizon. Stars and the two moons overhead provided enough light to see. There! Off to the south there was a massive dark cloud rising up from the ground.

 _It could have been a bomb of some kind,_ she thought, _but what kind of bomb is that powerful? And why would it be dropped in the middle of nowhere…_ suddenly, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Though she had no confirmation, she knew in her heart that the breeding caverns had been destroyed. And Nidara along with them. _Don't be a fool, there's no time to waste. You don't even know that's what it is._ She descended, already bringing her focus back onto the tasks at hand: Find or build a shelter; find a reliable food source; make sure nobody lives near the site.

In time, news of the disaster at Nidara's caves would spread. Investigations were launched under the Grand Highblood's orders (though his only involvement was telling an underling to "find out what the motherfuckin' fuck that shit was"). Reports by those investigations could only conclude that the caves were destroyed by some sort of detonation. It wasn't until sweeps later that the truth came out when the young troll that the Handmaid let live started to tell his story. The records matched up, he was the last troll to come from Nidara's caves, and the construction drones stationed near the caves had been used by him.

And so the Handmaid's purpose was complete. Her name was mentioned and fear would spread like a disease. But she had another reason for destroying the caves. Doc Scratch had ordered her to kill Nidara before she could act on plans she had made. Plans that, once begun, would have resulted in entire generations of her spawn bearing her ideals, and that was not acceptable. Only two were permitted to escape. She was not allowed to know where they were, but the Doc had assured her that he knew what would become of them, and it would all fit to serve his plans. After all, he had evidence he would succeed. His servant, a paradox clone of herself, could only have come into existence from a session of The Game. The timeline was intact.

 _Author's Note: I hope any readers are enjoying this story. Reminder, this story is not meant to be any sort of alternate universe, but rather the story I think the Canon ancestors lived. The pacing of this story will likely not be consistent, and I have no idea if I'll even finish it. I hope you have enjoyed this story thus far! Please leave a review, follow this story, get author alerts, etc._


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